Michael Irvin will NOT be employed by FOX Sports as a studio analyst. The statement for public consumption was that it was "mutually agreed" that this was not the time for him to begin a broadcasting career. Here is a possible reason why FOX was a tad nervous. The woman who was the target of the drug probe - the one who was not there when they broke in and found Michael - is also accused of being involved in the selling of the heroin that killed Mark Tuenei last year. If that went to trial in mid-season, Michael's presence on the set might have been a bit "awkward". And since he would be with Chris Speilman on the set, they have enough "Awkward" to spread around to three shows.

Another monster trade has been done in the NBA pending league approval and pending Patrick Ewing not blowing it up with his "no-trade clause". Patrick goes to Seattle who says they will not extend his contract. Patrick's deal is over this year and he says he wants to play three more years. Vin Baker goes to the Knicks as does Glen Rice and Travis Knight. The Pistons get a whole bunch of players that they can renounce to create cap room for next year and at least one first round drat choice and maybe two. Chris Dudley and Christian Laettner go to the Lakers.

The Washington media is howling that the Wizards did not get involved in yet another 4 team deal and wonder if MJ is too busy playing golf to get on the phone and do the work that is needed to get deals done.

Memo to Washington Media: What you really want is to move Juwann Howard or Rod Strickland. They are going nowhere because they have contracts that are as welcome as nuclear waste. The Knicks already have the second worst contract in the league (Larry Johnson) and are not going to take on Juwann Howard's to lock up the exacta of bad contracts. Get over it.

Those of you who know me in my "reality incarnation" and not just as a purveyor of curmudgeonly views are aware that I officiated kids basketball and soccer and things like that for multiple decades. I like kids; I like sports. But youth sports has gotten out of hand and as usual it is the adults' fault. We have had the assaults on officials and the killing of one parent by another and now we have boys playing on a girls' softball team. The justification is Title IX and one parent of one of the boys said that this could get his kid a college scholarship to play softball. NCAA softball is a women's sport and that means a court challenge using the "what's good for the goose…" reasoning.

Memo to 16 year old boys on the girls' softball team: This is not what the guys mean when they tell you that you will enjoy "sliding into home". Get a life; tell your parents to go take a cold shower.

Darren Erstad's rib injury means he will miss at least a game and probably two or three and that could kill his shot at the record for most hits in a season.

The University of Mississippi has been taken to court on First Amendment grounds for banning spectators from waving the Confederate Flag at campus athletic events. The court ruled they could enact and enforce such a ban. Fine. However, the basis of the ban is bogus. Ole Miss claims that the stick which holds the flag presents a safety concern. So can I wave the flag if there is no stick on it? Can I wear the flag as a shirt? No safety problems there.

In the Senior golf Utah Showdown, one player finished a monumental 43 strokes behind the leader and 8 strokes behind the guy that finished next to last. That player was named Johnny Bench. Is this the baseball player? If not, then it is clearly time for this Johnny Bench to give up the game.

The Atlanta Falcons must feel good about Jamaal Anderson's recovery because they just waived Ken Oxendine and Byron Hanspard. Byron is a special person and if you saw the movie Animal House, you can appreciate that he won the "Mr. Blutarski Award" for his academic performance in his last semester at TCU. His grade point average was 0.00 .

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...